The mobile phone industry has changed a lot over the years, but few things have been more impactful than The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act. Before this act was passed, you were forced to use your cell phone with the carrier you purchased it from, and they were useless to any other network. This truly limited the market for people trying to buy and sell used cell phones. Luckily, ever since the act passed, any phone purchased after 2015 will work with any carrier. Now, you can perform an official iPhone unlock to use on other carriers, maximizing the value of your device.

How To Unlock A Locked iPhone

If you’re someone who sells used phones online, then it is essential that you know how to unlock iPhones. This allows the purchaser to be able to connect it to the network of their choice, which also allows you to broaden your market and not be limited to one carrier.While there are many pros and cons of purchasing a used iPhone, people mostly enjoy the price reduction and savings on their environmental footprint. Whatever the reason is that you need to unlock your iPhone, we’ll guide you through the process.

Will Your iPhone Be Able to do the Official iPhone Unlock?

First and foremost, you need to make sure that your phone is eligible to be unlocked. There are a few requirements that your iPhone needs to meet in order to perform an official unlock, such as:

1. Be a clean device. This means that the device has to have been acquired legitimately and not reported lost or stolen. If you’re not sure about the history of your phone or whether or not it has been reported as stolen, you can take a few simple steps to look up its IMEI number and find out.
2. No financial obligations. Basically, the phone needs to be free of payments. If a phone is still on a payment plan, it would not qualify since it technically still belongs to the carrier. If you purchased the phone with the full amount upfront or have been successfully able to pay it off over the months, then you are in luck.
3. Have an active account. Some carriers require that you have an account active with them for a certain period of time. This length of time varies from carrier to carrier, anywhere from no time at all (Verizon) to 90 days (AT&T). This is because they want to keep you as a new customer for a minimum period of time and avoid any plan-hopping.

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How To Unlock Your iPhone On All Major Carriers[/caption]

How to Unlock a Locked iPhone on Verizon

If you have a Verizon phone, then you are in luck. They have the easiest unlocking policy of any carrier, and as we mentioned before, there is no minimum period of time that you need to have an active account for.All you need to do to switch to a new plan is call up Verizon and cancel their service. Then, just start your new plan with the carrier of your choice. Pretty easy, right? You can read more about their device unlocking policy here.

Unlock iPhone on Sprint

Much like Verizon, Sprint makes it pretty easy on its customers when it comes to unlocking iPhones. If your phone meets all the general requirements outlined earlier in this blog, then there’s nothing else you need to do. Seriously, it’s pretty easy!All you need to do is get the new SIM card from the carrier of your choice. Then, simply replace the SIM card in your iPhone with the new one you want to use, and your iPhone should be good to go. If for some reason it still doesn’t work, Sprint’s customer service team is always on hand to lend some help.

Unlock iPhone on AT&T

When it comes to AT&T, iPhones bought through them are still beholden to the company. It’s not as easy as switching carriers like Verizon or inserting a new SIM card like with Sprint. Here’s how you go about unlocking your iPhone with an AT&T phone:

1. Submit a request to the carrier by logging into your account
2. Choose the device you want to unlock
3. Choose “Unlock phone or tablet to work with another wireless provider,” follow the steps and hit Submit.
4. After you hit Submit, you’ll get an email with your unlock request number.
5. Click on the link in that email to confirm everything
6. If the device is deemed eligible after the two-day review period, you’ll then be able to pop out the old SIM and insert the new one.

Need to Unlock iPhones in Bulk?

As a used cell phone retailer, you need to maximize your profits as much as possible. This includes making sure that the phones that come through your door are not stolen, broken or otherwise not in working order. It’s likely that most (if not all) of the iPhones you come across are locked, so it’s important to have them unlocked and checked before reselling them.Running diagnostics on your phones will be able to tell you exactly what is wrong with them, perform data erasures and test all their functionality (such as speakers and microphones). Knowing what’s wrong gives you a chance to fix it, giving your used phones even more value.There are many ways to do this, or you can use diagnostics software like PhoneCheck to perform it all for you in under 2 minutes. Our software will give you a comprehensive print-out as well as a certification when it is ready to hit the shelves. This means a better reputation for you, and great peace of mind for the buyer.